The predicament of an Indian

Do the people living inside the geographical confines of India think
about the future? By future, we mean the collection of ‘yet-to-be
arrived’ points in the timeline of one’s life, in which one’s body lives
and dies.

Future is a relatively new term in the Indian lexicon, due to the
historical importance of eternal recurrence as per the Hindu/Buddhist traditions and the ‘heaven’ for the Semiticreligions. Future in the
current world becomes important only when the emphasis shifts from atman/soul to the body i.e. the perishable body in which one currently
resides. Expectations, utopias and apocalyptic visions exist in multitude, mainly in times of physical, mental, economic and spiritual
suffering. A cursory look at the surroundings will be sufficient to show
the all-pervading nature of suffering in all realms (‘Are the
individuals ready to accept the existence of suffering?’ is a different
question altogether).

As someone born in India, I am not privy to the pride that I myself carry with
respect to the past era. But, I am also aware of the burden of the
past. Among which, the caste system is the foremost among factors which
cripple both the individual and the collective. The conviction carried
by the majority that only the progress of the group (be it family,
party, state or country) is of significance, has its origin in the
water-tight rigidity of the caste system. Only the caste can move ahead
in the social strata, not the individual. All our structures reinforce
this belief. The word ‘belief’ is used to emphasise the scarce
application of reason. Upon this belief is superimposed the onslaught of laissez fair capitalism which is the culmination of the ill effects of western materialism. In effect, what we have in hand is a situation,
where the burden of the past made further heavier, driving the society
into despair.

While Gautama Buddha, the crowning jewel of all spiritual endeavours by
mankind, talked about renouncing desires, we are currently in an era,
where inability to distinguish between desire and need is the norm.
Nonetheless, desires are created every day, not only by the influence of
neighbours, friends and acquaintances but ‘market forces’.

This is not to say that one should renounce desires during their youth
and lead an 'ascetic’s life. However, the complete lack of interest/environment in understanding oneself is indeed disturbing. For someone belonging to the
mainstream Western civilization, it is well within their cultural
purview to be indulgent in only sensual pleasures, because this is where
at least a few had the courage and the environment to proclaim the death of God. On the contrary, it is disconcerting, when the people of the land of mysticism resort to thoughtless materialism. There is not
even an effort to stop, think and take the next step. The only apparent
path is noisy, chaotic and mind-numbingly competitive. It is a race to
reach a destination about which the participants are clueless.
Therefore, we are looking at a distant, hazy future in which the only
surety is losing oneself.

One cannot trivialize this threat – that of losing the only aspect we can
be proud of. Assuming the ability to read a book as the criterion to
estimate the percentage of people capable of thinking freely, we can arrive at
an optimistic figure of 10%, the rest are too involved in the struggle
for day-to-day survival to be able to spend time on thinking. A more
pessimistic view would not be unjustified either, primarily because
reason and critical reflection are not one of man’s outstanding
peculiarities, more so in Asia where the various groups (divided in
terms of ideology, religion or caste) are bigger. These organized groups
crush out the reason and reflection of the
individual. This is necessarily followed by ideological tyranny when
powerful institutions like media or the state fall into the hands of
special interest groups like the business class.

The quest for truth can be conducted with some possibility of success
only when the emotions attached to a particular situation does not
exceed a particular level. If the emotionality of a situation rises
above this, the prospect of rational argument taking place ceases and is
substituted by clamours and fantasies. The collective possession of any
original idea leads to a certain trivialization which kills the
prospect of its development, at its very birth. A situation arises when
those elements whose existence is merely tolerated, comes to the top
because of their ability to raise noisy slogans. These noises are very
well identified by the majority as their own, because of their
familiarity and expertise in making similar sounds. These sloganeers
despite their small number in comparison to the population as a whole
are sources of decadence, primarily because of the limited self-knowledge of the majority. This is proved by the prevalent trends in popular music and cinema.

Self-knowledge, as is commonly used, is the understanding of one’s ego, which forms only a part of the mind. What goes on in the subconscious is not only unknown, but is susceptible to dangerous
influences which are beyond the control of the conscious. We should be
aware of the existence of the subconscious, at the least. We need to be
aware of the inapplicable nature of any theory as a guide to
self-knowledge. Theories are based on statistical averages; statistics is the last branch of science which should be applied to understand
human psychology. The individual is one of his kind, a unique
phenomenon. He cannot be known by analysis or compared with anyone else.
However, statistical averages are used to educate, cloth, rule and
amuse the collection of individuals. This becomes all the more pointless
when the individuals are ‘raised’ to increase the revenues of a company
or a Government, because the fruits of money/power are enjoyed by a
select few, in turn used to amass more of it. Businesses and
Governments don’t need minds capable of judgement but specialist
mouthpieces who are useless outside their line of business. The bigger
the crowd, lesser the individual finds his life meaningful, because of
its common nature and the substitutability of his role in the society –
whoever follows this line of thinking is on the road to slavery. The man
who looks only outside for suitable ways to imitate is rendered
helpless by the futility of his search. Such futile searches are the
norm in our society – one is apprised of his irrelevance if he does not
join a group. On the contrary, the one who makes the loudest noise is
seen as a representative of the masses and applauded. It is debatable
if the noise is the representation of the masses or his own creation.

Under the prevailing circumstances, it is natural that the individual
judgment grows hazy and the responsibility for its development is
assigned to the society. Society in turn, is an abstract idea, based on
which manipulative individuals use Government, business and other
organizations as a camouflage to conjure benefits for themselves. As a
first step, it might help to realise this fact, before embarking on the
tortuous journey of self-realisation.